


The Arc Reactor

by FictionalWorldsAreExquisite



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Arc Reactor, Arc Reactor Issues, Fluff, Gen, SORT OF. but not something immediately causing harm!, Smart Peter Parker, Sort of. You'll see, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, at some points!, bc it's you know. set earlier in the timeline. kind of., but it's also KIND OF me just going haha gonna slot this into canon at some point before they meet, haha bet y'all wanna know when this fits in the timeline. me too buddy. me too, i genuinely don't know how to tag this fic, i guess it's pre spider-man homecoming bc they haven't met yet, ok. it's NOT angst. so don't worry about that, so yeah. different meeting!, tony and peter that is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22265800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionalWorldsAreExquisite/pseuds/FictionalWorldsAreExquisite
Summary: Peter Parker has never met Tony Stark. Spider-Man has never interacted with Iron Man. But when Peter discovers a problem with the arc reactor based on his attempted recreation of it, he has to get a message to Tony Stark somehow, even if he's wrong. So he climbs Stark Tower to leave a note on Tony's balcony. It doesn't exactly go to plan though.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 31
Kudos: 725
Collections: Peter Parker Stories, ellie marvel fics - read





	The Arc Reactor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends!
> 
> I was away on holiday for a week then spent a few days when I got back catching up on what I missed (I don't have internet when I'm away) and today I finally got most of my stuff out of the way and I was like woo! I can write now! So obviously bc I had time, my mind blanked. But I came up with a load of ideas while I was away that I'm excited to write and this was one of the smaller ones that I didn't really flesh out so I tried to ease myself back into writing with this (bc apparently I get rusty after like a week of not writing). It was very rough at the start but then I ended up finding it easier as I went and eventually ended up with 2k words (wild, I honestly thought I wouldn't get past 500). A lil harder too bc they don't have their normal dynamic, they're basically strangers, hence the different kind of interactions.
> 
> So, not my best work, but an idea I was still excited to write nevertheless and I think it smoothed out eventually and I can't wait until I write the other ideas I have! One of them in particular I'm super excited for if it works out.
> 
> Now if ur just reading the notes for what is this timeline? don't ask me. I suck at syncing up timelines. BUT. It's before Peter met Tony, that's the most important thing you need to know. Peter IS Spider-Man but they haven't met and this is a different meeting sort of fic. Similar in some ways but different in others. Enjoy!

Peter _had_ to get to Tony Stark.

This wasn’t a fan thing, although, he absolutely was a fan, it was a life and death thing. So he was about to do something stupid.

The design of the arc reactor was not public knowledge. However, it’d been a personal project of Peter’s to try and recreate it based off the knowledge Tony had said publically. He never said anything particularly detailed, but Peter had gathered up all the scraps he could find in interviews, press statements, offhand comments caught on video and written sources.

He’d been working on it for a while now, searching the web in the hope of more hints, watching videos featuring it and reading other people’s academic theories on how it was composed whenever he got stumped.

Sometimes he thought he figured out a piece of the design then realised it wouldn’t work which meant he’d put it together wrong so he started again. This wasn’t one of those times. He was certain he’d gotten it correct unless Mr. Stark had been lying in some of the information he’d shared (a distinct possibility to mislead people) which led him to his problem.

Tony Stark had a flaw in his arc reactor that could lead to it failing after a certain period of time when the magnetic factor wore a tiny, metal part down until it stopped working since they weren’t compatible and, although that may not kill him for certain, it _might_. Peter couldn’t just let that happen.

So he’d considered it. He could write him a letter, but Tony probably got millions every year and there was only a very slim chance he’d read it. He could try to stop him on the street or something, but he got the feeling that he wouldn’t be taken seriously and he’d possibly be forcibly removed by his bodyguards. He couldn’t try and spread this information online in the hopes it got to Mr. Stark, obviously, because that would put him at risk.

So here he was, outside Stark Tower on a Wednesday night, in dark clothing with a mask (like his Spider-Man one, but black and created quickly in ten minutes), intending to climb it. It was dark outside and most employees would be gone by now, plus, hopefully he wouldn’t be shot off the tower before he got to Mr. Stark’s balcony where he intended to leave a copy of his diagrams and a letter explaining the problem.

He started to climb.

Stark tower was a pretty intimidating building in terms of height so Peter could only hope that he was able to do this. His Spider-like powers were still pretty new and although he mostly had the hang of them now, this would be the tallest thing he’d ever climbed.

One hand above the other, followed by his feet. He pulled up. Move the hands and feet again. It was tiring work but important enough that Peter kept going. So far, no one had noticed as far as he could tell. His uh-oh-spaghettios-sense (he was still working on a shorter name. Danger-sense?) hadn’t alerted him of anything.

It was when he was halfway up that he made the mistake of looking down. “Oh boy,” Peter muttered to himself. Look, he’d kind of gotten used to heights in the few months that he’d been Spider-Man, but he was up way higher than he usually went. It was enough to make him pause to take a few deep breaths before pushing the image of the far-away ground out of his mind and continuing to climb.

He started to hum any song that came into his head as he climbed, not too loud but just loud enough to distract him from what he was doing. 

It was only when he was nearly at the balcony of the top floor that he quietened completely and moved to pull himself on top of it, keeping flat to the ground.

So now, all he had to do was place the papers and stick them down with some tape he’d brought so they didn’t blow away and hopefully Mr. Stark would find it in the morning, or sometime soon.

He started crawling towards the door when he was suddenly blinded with a flood of lights and he scrambled backwards, blinking quickly to try and get his vision back. 

“So, here to kill me? Rob me?” Tony Stark himself was standing near the doors leading inside, looking down at him. “That’d be pretty impressive but JARVIS was onto you the second you started climbing. You kept me waiting, really. Thing is, JARVIS also couldn’t detect any climbing gear which seems to imply that you’re the one doing the sticking. So you’re an enhanced person then, and likely Spider-Man based off the quick analysis JARVIS ran, but you don’t have the suit on. Spider-Man has never killed anyone based on what JARVIS told me but you’re not exactly advertising yourself as such, so, on a mission to hurt me or what?” Tony paused and waited expectantly for an answer.

Peter stared at him, eyes adjusted to the lights now. “I, uh, no, I just-”

“Voice sounds oddly young. You’re a kid then? Interesting. That changes some things. Course, I’ve had kids sent after me before, doesn’t mean you’re not a threat.” Tony frowned like that wasn’t a pleasant memory.

Peter was growing steadily uncomfortable with how quickly his hidden identity was being picked apart, “I’m not a kid,” he insisted weakly.

“Sure thing, really believable. Anyway, answer or I’ll call SHIELD.” Peter didn’t know exactly who SHIELD was but he suspected it would be better if he didn’t find out.

Peter cleared his throat and pulled the papers out from under his makeshift suit, “I, uh, was trying to recreate your arc reactor-”

“For nefarious purposes?”

“No! No. I started trying to do it before I became Spider-Man, I was just curious. But I came across a flaw in it that could eventually lead to the reactor failing. I needed to get that message to you because I don’t want you dead!” Spider-Man normally protected the little guy, but he was willing to expand that to one of the most powerful men around, his role model.

Tony stared at him for a bit. “You’re assuming you recreated it properly when no one else ever has.” The doubt was clear in his voice.

Peter shrugged. “Yeah, well, I could be wrong and this will all be the worst decision of my life but you’ll still be alive, and if I’m right, then I’ve hopefully prevented you from dying.” Peter was willing to take the chance that he was wrong.

Tony watched him for a bit, quietly, seemingly considering something. “Fine. Pass me the papers and get out of here before anyone starts asking questions.”

Peter nodded. “Alright. But at least look at them?” If Tony didn’t, this would all be pointless. Peter went to pass them directly to Tony but Tony just pointed at the ground instead. Peter did as he silently asked, not questioning it.

Tony didn’t say anything but he tilted his head slightly and Peter took that as an answer. He scurried back over the side of the railing and oh god-

That was a _long_ way down.

There was a snort from above him, “please just take my elevator this time.”

Peter nodded and climbed back up. “That sounds much better. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

\-------

It was two days later when Peter came home from school and came face to face with Tony Stark in his apartment, sitting across from his aunt on the couch.

Shit. Either Tony was here for some unrelated reason (unlikely) or he’d figured out Peter Parker was Spider-Man and something was about to happen. Had he said anything to his aunt? Shit, again.

He shuffled from one foot to another in the doorway, “uh, hi, Mr. Stark,” while glancing behind him to his aunt to see if she was showing any signs of shock as a result of finding out about her nephew’s secret identity. She didn’t seem to be.

“Hey, Peter, right? Well, I got your letter.” Tony’s words drew his attention back to him.

Peter looked at him blankly and Tony rolled his eyes at him before mouthing ‘play along’. At least, that’s what Peter thought he said. He was terrible at lip-reading.

“I’ll admit, I can’t get through all the letters sent to me, unfortunately. But I read yours, it got sent up by my assistant specially. About an improvement to the arc reactor? It was a very interesting read. As I said to your aunt here, you might be on to something.”

Peter went to say something but his aunt cut in, “Peter! You didn’t tell me that you actually sent Mr. Stark here-”

“Tony.” The man cut in, almost without thinking.

“-Tony, right. Your work!”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. May knew about his obsession with recreating the arc reactor but to be fair, he hadn’t actually sent Mr. Stark his work. “Well, you know, I wasn’t sure if it’d even reach him so I didn’t want to say anything.”

May smiled and got up to hug him, “typical. Tell me next time! I’ve got to go check on Mr. Dunn so I’ll leave you two to talk for a bit, I should be back in ten minutes.”

Peter laughed, Mr. Dunn was a talker. May would be at least twenty minutes and she knew it. She’d been checking in on him after a fall had sent him to the hospital and May had helped treat him. She didn’t have to, but Mr. Dunn was a nice old man so it was no hardship for her. “Sure, May. Be back by midnight.”

May rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair before brushing past him, leaving through the door.

The second it shut behind her, Peter was overly aware of the fact that he was now alone with the man who’d figured out his secret identity and who Peter had somewhat threatened (unintentionally!) the other night. Tony was just looking at him, calculating.

“So, Spider-Man is fourteen. Goes to a smart school, lives with his aunt, likes helping the little guy out and has practically recreated the arc reactor design when no one else could.” His voice gave nothing away as to what was about to happen.

Peter cringed, “don’t tell May about the Spider-Man thing, please?” He hushed his voice as if May could hear him from the floor below. Freaky aunt hearing was a thing, after all. He moved to perch on the edge of the couch where May was sitting before.

Tony raised his hands, “not my business. Not right now, anyway. So, Peter Parker, you found a problem in my arc reactor.”

Peter’s mouth dropped open, “I did?” He shut it quickly. “I mean, I thought I did but then I wasn’t so sure after Wednesday night, even though I looked over my notes later and still came to the same conclusion but-”

“Peter.”

“Oh! Right, sorry.” Peter probably would’ve rambled endlessly if not stopped.

“It wasn’t something I should’ve overlooked but after finally discovering a new element to power it and stop the poisoning, it seems that I skipped over some of the smaller things.” Tony voice trailed off at the end like he was thinking about it.

“Like in maths! When you’re doing a complicated quadratic equation and then you mess up a simple multiplication.” Peter was about to slap himself after saying that, no way did Tony Stark find quadratic equations hard, it would be nothing like that.

But Tony just smiled slightly at that for the first time since Peter had met him, “just like that.” His expression got more grave. “Unfortunately, I’ve been fiddling around with different designs that take the part you brought up out of the equation, and they all interrupt some other part of the reactor. I can’t just remove it, I need it, but it has to be changed somehow.”

Peter awkwardly offered up, “I mean, I wrote down some ideas to fix it. You’ve probably already thought of them but maybe-”

“Go get them, kid. I’ve got nothing to lose here.” Tony leaned back into the couch and raised an eyebrow at him.

Peter scrambled off the couch to his room, suddenly wishing he actually cleaned his desk occasionally because wow, where were the notes he wanted? Then he finally saw his red notebook and grabbed it before coming back into the lounge to sit down on the couch next to Tony.

“So, uh,” Peter flipped through the pages, scanning each one quickly, “oh! Here they are. I think the next five pages or so have my ideas on it.” He put the notebook between them instead of handing it directly to the man since he didn’t seem to want to take things directly.

Tony picked up the notebook but flipped back a few pages, “you made your own web formula? And webshooters? This is pretty impressive work, kid. Could be improved if you had access to more materials but you’ve done a very good job with what you have.”

Peter blushed, Tony sounded genuinely impressed, “yeah, lots of trial and error but I figured how best to optimise both with what I have, thank you.”

Tony nodded before going back to Peter’s notes, reading over them, mumbling to himself occasionally.

It was on the fourth page that Tony paused, “I think you might be onto something here.”

Peter squinted over to where he was pointing, “oh, adding a part to neutralise the long-term effects rather than replacing or removing the part at risk?”

“Yeah, exactly that.” Tony tapped thoughtfully.

“It’d probably make the arc reactor a bit more clunky but it could be a short-term fix at the very least.” Peter hadn’t assumed that idea would ever be a long-term fix.

Tony hummed, “adding more weight won’t help me any but short-term, it’ll be okay. You’re onto something.”

Peter grinned to himself. He’d actually helped the Tony Stark! This was crazy. Then he just about lost his cool when Tony asked, “want to help me?”

Peter stared at him, waiting for him to say he was kidding. But he didn’t. “Uh. Yes? Definitely. I mean, if you’re okay with that.”

“A fresh set of eyes is always helpful, and you clearly understand what we’re working with, so I think it’d be smart. We’ll hash it out with your aunt when she gets back.”

Peter leaned back into the couch, “might be here a while. Mr. Dunn talks _so_ much.”

Tony snorted and chucked the notebook back at him. “Alright then, let’s start brainstorming. Get me a pen and some paper.”

Peter leapt up and raced for his room. This was _so_ cool.

**Author's Note:**

> nobody question my science behind the arc reactor problem. i was about to post this without explaining the problem (seriously. it was like hey guys! there's a problem! boy howdy, bet you want to know the problem! you never will!) but i was like hang on i can at LEAST point to something, right? So I did some research and found out stronger magnets can cause some damage to this and that and decrease efficiency in blah blah blah anyway, I don't know how truthful it IS but we're pretending it's a THING for this fic, ok? i am an english and sociology major. i do not know this stuff sdkfhsd, i tried somethin anyway.
> 
> i did kind of base this fic off the idea i mentioned in it w/ the maths concept, like my maths teacher would be like okay here's a complex calculus equation, here is complicated step number one, complicated step number two, REALLY complicated step number three, then we go 5+2=9, next- it'd be like, your brain goes into complex solving mode and skips over the simple things and gets them wrong. obviously tony stark is not my old maths teacher (thank GOD, i do not need IRON MAN'S fight instinct going off whenever he sees me, i would be DEAD), but i think him overlooking something simple is still possible, and bc the public doesn't know the design,, no one would be there to point it out unless u recreated it like peter did. anyway no one wanted that explanation but i still gave it


End file.
